among the newly unemployed are thousands of steel workers from maryland. sharyl attkisson reports on some folks who once thought they had jobs for life and their kids did too. >> reporter: mike hartnett's softer side comes out in his hobby, the violin. but after 36 years here, there's steel in his blood. you have a long standing family history. >> my great grandfather started down there in the 1900s. my granddad after that. my father, myself and then my daughter was after me. she would be the fifth generation. >> reporter: built 125 years ago, the mill was once the world's largest, producing steel for the golden gate bridge and both world wars. in its heyday, america's steel industry boasted 600,000 workers. today it's down to 87,000, and this company has come to exemplify the industry's struggles, a chain of owners, layoffs. there was once 31,000 employees here, now there there's 2,000. two months ago they got the news the plant was closing. >> i'm speechless, i don't know what to say. all these young people with kids and homes, cars. what are they going